


Hitchhiker

by SailorChibi



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alpha Steve Rogers, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Alpha/Beta/Omega, Bantering, Gen, Hitchhiking, Omega Peter Parker, Omega Tony Stark, Omega Verse, Peter is very amused by it, Protective Steve Rogers, Steve and Tony bicker at each other a lot, implied abusive situation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:34:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27907543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorChibi/pseuds/SailorChibi
Summary: In a desperate bid to escape his home situation, Peter hitchhikes - and ends up getting picked up by Steve Rogers.
Comments: 25
Kudos: 565





	Hitchhiker

**Author's Note:**

> It's that time of year where I slap half-hearted endings onto bits of fics I started but never completed and then throw them up on AO3! I had vague plans for this one to turn into Peter helping Steve and Tony to get together and then being adopted, but it never happened. Maybe someday...

Cold rain trickled down off the roof of the bus shelter, landing on Peter's neck. He flinched, but didn't otherwise react; he was already soaked from walking here, so what was a little more rain? At least inside the shelter, he was (mostly) out of the way of the storm. He exhaled, watching his breath form and then dissipate, and reconsidered his options for the fifth time in as many minutes. The problem was that he really didn't have many options to consider.

Option one was going back home... but that would mean accepting the fact that on his sixteenth birthday, in exactly one week, he was going to be mated to an alpha of his parent's choosing. Peter wasn't wholly sure who they had picked, but enough of his father's alpha friends had been hanging around lately to make Peter extremely wary. He didn't want to be mated to an alpha in their early fifties. He didn't even know if he wanted to be mated at all. But the last time he'd said as much to his mother, she'd slapped him across the face and told him that he would do his omega duty whether he liked it or not.

Option two was getting on the next bus that came by, whenever that would be, and heading downtown, where he could try to buy a ticket to New York. The problem was that his small town was a good four or five day's drive from the city. Peter didn't know how much bus tickets cost, but he was almost positive that they cost more than the $45.08 he had in his wallet right now. That money was all he had, cobbled together from what his aunt had sent him for Christmas last year and a couple odd jobs around the neighborhood for people who felt sorry for him.

Option three was hitch-hiking. Peter curled in on himself, stomach flipping nervously. All his life, people had told him what happened to omegas who were out on their own in the world. Horrible, terrible, disgusting things that made Peter's skin crawl when he thought about it. It had been drummed into him that you couldn't trust an alpha to be able to control themselves, and that betas were out for themselves in a world where they continuously fought with alphas for top dog, and that omegas like Peter were too frail and silly to know their own minds. 

"Guess I'm walking," Peter said out loud, tipping his head back and letting it gently thud against the glass. No one knew he was gone yet; after his father had confirmed that an alpha had accepted Peter's hand, Peter had gone right up to his room, packed his backpack, and climbed out the window. It was just after 9:00pm, so he had roughly an hour before his mother would be coming to tell him to shut his lights out. 

Once they knew he was gone, they'd have the whole town out looking for him. Peter had to be gone before then. That was the other reason why he didn't want to go downtown. He had no idea what time the busses stopped running but getting stuck at the depot all night would make him guaranteed to be caught. And if he got caught, he knew he wouldn't get another chance at this. He'd be under twenty-four-hour watch until the morning of his birthday. 

Once he was mated, there would be no more running. 

He stood up, wincing as his muscles protested the change in movement, and slung his backpack over his shoulder. He pulled up the hood of his sweatshirt and stepped out from under the cover of the shelter. It was quiet and dark beyond the lights of the town, and his heart thudded nervously as he started walking along the side of the road. He wouldn't be able to afford any hotels. He'd have to sleep out in the woods and save his money for food and water, because the only food he had on him right now was a granola bar that he hadn't eaten earlier that day.

Peter had been walking for maybe twenty minutes before the first car went by. It was hard to know whether he should be relieved or disappointed when it shot by him without stopping. Perhaps he was an imposing figure, he reflected, though the idea made him smile mirthlessly. He was a scrawny, short fifteen-year-old wearing too-big jeans, a sweatshirt, and a ratty backpack. Whoever was afraid of Peter seriously needed to rethink what they were doing in the world. Still, it was with a little more confidence that he kept on going.

Over the next two or three hours, a couple more cars went by - and then one stopped. Peter froze as the car door opened. An umbrella emerged first, followed by a big man with blond hair. An alpha, had to be, easily over six feet tall and with broad shoulders, dressed in a bright blue t-shirt and blue jeans. He looked at Peter for at least a minute, eyebrows furrowed, before he spoke.

"You lost, son?" he asked finally.

"No," Peter said uneasily.

The guy considered that. "You need a ride somewhere?"

Peter glanced back and forth between the guy and the car and didn't say anything. 

"I'm headed up to the next town to pick up my co-worker," the guy said slowly. "You're welcome to jump in. It's what, another three hours away? I'm not very good with the terrain up here. I could use a guide if you're up for it."

It was stupid. Peter _knew_ that. But the guy couldn't know he was an omega. Since Peter hadn't had his first heat yet, his scent was very minimal - and it was probably overloaded with stress, fear, and frustration right now anyway. Most alphas weren't interested in betas, right? That's what his parents had told him. And it would get him away from the town. It had only recently occurred to him that following the road was really dumb, because anyone from the town could drive up behind him and see him. Was this worth the risk to get away?

Yes, Peter decided immediately.

"Sure," he said, aiming for a casual tone. "Thanks."

"No problem," the guy said. "Door's open."

Peter trudged up to the car as the guy slid back into the driver's seat. In spite of his decision, he was still apprehensive about actually getting into the car. But he wasn't sure he had any other choice, so he slowly bent down and got in on the passenger's side. It wasn't until he was sitting and felt the definite squelch of his wet clothing immediately soaking the cloth seats of the car, that he realized how incredibly rude he was being. His father would've slapped him so hard upside the head he would've seen stars. 

"Oh god, I'm so sorry," he exclaimed.

"For what? The seat will dry," the guy said. "No harm. They've been wet before and they'll be wet again." He had an easy smile, like it really wasn't a big deal. 

"Umm... okay," Peter said. He shut the door and put on his seatbelt, then fisted his hands in his lap. Cold water dribbled down his face.

The guy looked at him, then reached out and turned the heater on full blast. "I'm Steve. Steve Rogers."

"Peter," Peter said softly, offering no last name. 

Steve didn't press, just nodded and flicked on the signal light. He turned back onto the road. "So how much further before I hit the highway?"

Peter wracked his brain for an answer, trying to recall trips he'd taken with his mother when he was very young before he'd been confined to the house. "Uh... about ten miles, I think? You'll come to a fork in the road and you take a right."

"Great, thanks," Steve said. "Shitty night, huh?"

"Very shitty," Peter mumbled, staring out the window. It was pouring so hard that Steve had to turn the windshield wipers on high just to keep up with the rain. He watched the trees whip away and realized that he felt better with every mile that he put between him and his parents and his would-be alpha.

They drove in silence with only the radio for noise for a while. Steve sang along with a handful of songs; he had a nice voice, deep and smooth. Peter listened quietly, waiting for Steve to ask questions. But Steve never did. Perhaps he was waiting for Peter to be the one to share; if so, he was going to have a long wait. Peter just wanted to get to New York and his aunt. He was never going back.

“Ah, here we go,” Steve said finally as the headlights caught the sign for the next town. “Good job, navigator!” He praised, as though Peter had done anything other than sit in silence for the past several hours.

“Why are you picking up your co-worker so late?” Peter asked before he could stop himself. The clock on the dash read after midnight. It seemed like a weird time.

Steve smirked. “My co-worker can be hard on the head. Let’s just say he’s worn out his welcome where he is. We’re staging a rescue before they run him out of town.” He chuckled and slowed, making a right into a parking lot. Peter found himself looking up a motel.

There was a guy waiting out front by the entrance. Steve parked and grabbed his umbrella, jumping out. He jogged over to where the other guy was waiting. Peter watched them curiously. The new guy was shorter than Steve, but taller than Peter. He was slender, but not skinny like Peter – just defined. He and Steve talked for a couple of minutes, and when the guy looked over at the car, Peter caught a glimpse of brown hair and a goatee. He clutched his backpack tighter in his lap.

The keys were still in the car. He could drive away right now. But no sooner had the thought passed through Peter’s mind than Steve and the new guy started walking back towards the car. They put two suitcases in the back, and then Steve got in the driver’s seat and the new guy got in the back seat behind Peter. Fully expecting another alpha, and beyond nervous that he was going to end up trapped with two, Peter inhaled deeply and – choked in surprise.

“Yeah, I get that reaction a lot. Tony,” the guy said, thrusting a hand between the seats. It made the omega-sweet scent of coffee with undertones of vanilla cream even stronger. 

“Peter,” Peter said with poorly disguised shock, gingerly gripping the strong hand. An alpha and omega. He hadn’t anticipated that. 

“I hear you’re traveling with us,” Tony said.

“Uh,” Peter said.

Steve smiled. “We’re going back home to New York. We can drop you off anywhere along the way if you’d like, or you’re welcome to drive all the way with us.”

“To New York?” Peter repeated, hardly able to believe his good fortune. What were the chances that he’d get into the one car that was heading back to the city? The one car that also had an omega in it, no less. That didn’t mean Peter was completely out of danger – they could both be psychos – but having another omega around made him a little less worried about being jumped.

“That’s where we live. I was traveling for business and Steve decided he wanted to come,” Tony explained. “He went to visit a friend of ours while I was working.”

“And then had to leave early to rescue you,” Steve said, though there was no real annoyance in his tone that Peter could make out. He sounded more amused than anything.

“You didn’t rescue me,” Tony objected. “You’re helping me stage a strategic departure.”

Steve laughed out loud. “Oh, is that what we’re calling you avoiding Justin Hammer now?”

“Hey, that idiot is a menace to society and I just don’t have the energy to pretend he’s anything else,” Tony said.

“I can’t argue with that,” Steve admitted. “After what happened last time…”

“See?!” Tony said, throwing his arms up dramatically.

Peter bit his lip to hide a smile as he listened to the two of them banter. There was something easy and relaxed about their conversation, as though this was something they’d done many times before. Tony was definitely the more energetic of the two, filling the car with chatter, while Steve alternately sympathized or needled him. Tony indignantly rose to the teasing every time, which just made Steve grin.

This was going to be an interesting trip.


End file.
